Walkig down the path, Elias listened to the crunch of the rocks below the sole of his shoes and the wind gliding across the fields.
It had been around fourty-five minutes since he's started walking, but soon enough he saw the exit resembling that of a gate to a farmhouse.
"Is that where I'm supposed to go?"
The bird nodded but hadn't spoken since he began walking. With a cough in awkwardness, Elias headed toward the gate and slowly opened it walking through it.
Staring at a barren land, a black haze hit Elias cause him to start suffocating. With a quick motion, he tore off a piece of fabric from with clothing and used it as a makeshift mask.
"God damn, what was that? I almost died because of it..."
In the distance Elias saw a light gleaming in black haze and started walking towards the light, but as he walked towards the light, it started moving away. He stopped dead in his tracks looking at the light getting further and immediately took three point start and started dashing toward the light.
On a carriage was a man named Edmund Valenza. He is currently making his way through the black haze with a lantern lighting the way forward. Edmund is heading towards a city as a merchant to buy and sell goods.
"Sir Edmund, after we exit the Black Haze, we should reach Eldermere in a bit."
The soldier being the coach man of the carriage keeping the horses in a straight path West.
"The other wagons seem to also be treading closely without much issue."
"Good, we wouldn't want to lose any of the resources, materials, and elves we traded from Elvenheim."
In the middle of the line of wagons was a cage full of Elves and Dark Elves whom were sold by their own kind. While slavery was considered taboo, the black market held monthly auctions selling rare jewelry, slaves, and materials.
Looking outside his window, Edmund spotted something in the distance glowing purple. He leaned in closer and realized that they were eyes running towards them.
Elias then appeared latched onto the window staring at Edmund through the window. The soldiers when the noticed Elias immediately sprung into action and grabbed onto him holding him down on the ground.
Glancing at Elias, Edmund wondered whom he might be. After getting a closer look at his face he recognized that Elias had no sense of magic
"Let go of him, it seems that he has something I haven't seen in awhile."
With that being said, the guards let go of Elias with Edmund opening the door letting him inside.
"Come in, I would like to speak to you about something."
Taking a step inside, Elias sat down nervously. Edmund would sit right in front of him snatching off Elias' mask.
"Do not fret, this carriage is surrounded by a barrier that's a side class of a Haven's barrier."
"And what exactly is a Haven?"
Edmund stared at him in confusion wondering how he didn't know what a Haven was.
"To explain it, a Haven is a special area created by one of the six gods in order to protect areas from the Black Haze. Just think of them as a type of quarantines."
"Enough of that though, it seems like you have a Stigma on your hand."
Raising his right hand, Elias see's multiple markings intersecting with each other.
"So... What is a Stigma?"
"So you really are stupid."
Elias stares at Edmund expecting him to answer his question quickly.
"Alright fine, a Stigma is a marking from another god that erased your mana making you not able to use magic as a whole, but in return you are given a special power that is considered vastly more powerful than magic. Except the thing is that with the Stigma, you are expected by the gods to get rid of the Black Haze and many more things that could bring the world to an end."
With that being said, Elias glanced at his Stigma remembering of what the bird told him about. He looked at the bird still not talking, wondering what the bird could be doing, he touched the bird on the head with no response from it.
"We are reaching the end of this Black Haze sir."
Exiting the Black Haze, Elias saw a city in the distance, around then was a forest with trees taller than your average house. Approaching Eldermere, the city was surrounded by a body of water glistening in the light like a diamond.
Edmund stretched his arm out the window ordering the other wagons to stop. With a gesture the other wagons to go into the city via back entrance.
"I have something I want you to do for me, and forgot to tell you, my name is Edmund Valenza. Owner of Valenza Trading."
"My name is Elias, this bird on my shoulder knows my last name, but he hasn't told me yet."
Some time later Elias' was being suited into an outfit. He was in the lower levels of the city only accessible to those who had clearance to the black market.
"I already recommended you to the host in the black market. Your mask is currently being made so that you won't be seen. What I need you to do is steal an elixir that rids someone of any injury or curse. It should be located in the back of the auction protected by a magic barrier that you should be able to bypass with these."
Valenza hands Elias a pair of gloves.
"These are anti magic gloves that can bypass high tier barriers. Be careful though, there are people that can sense the cancellation of mana flow, so do it when you know the time is right."
After the explanation, a masked man walks into the room handing Elias a mask in the shape of a owl. When the man walked out, Elias put on his mask and hears a bell ring.
"That's to call all the employees into the auditorium where they will explain what is being sold and what to protect."
Valenza pushed Elias out of the room. Walking down the hall, Elias saw how there were 22 others in front of him varying in size, shape, and race with some being Elves while others Dwarves.
In the auditorium, the host stands on the stage without a mask being worn.
"In two hours, the auction will begin. All of you will have to protect the slaves that were brought here, but the most important is the patrons and the elixir."
"I'll allow you all to walk around in the storage room to check what is going to be sold, but touch anything and you'll be punished severely."
In the storage room were rare items and slaves in cages. Elias walked around looking for the elixir and found the barrier surrounding it.
Elias made sure to remember the exact placement of the elixir and started heading back. Before leaving the storage room, his eyes met the gaze of a man who looked malnourished but also muscular man. The man's golden eyes pierced through the darkness staring at Elias as if it were an angel observing him.
"That one."
The bird in Elias' shoulder said looking at the man. Confused, Elias continued walking heading back toward the auditorium.
"Why have you been looking at that one ever since we first saw him?"
A elf woman sitting next to the man asked. The man turned to the woman staring at her.
"There's something different about him."
In the black marketplace, Edmund was selling different items to markets. In the distance an overweight old man called out his name and came up to him.
"I see that you've made quite the findings. You even brought a boy with a Stigma from what I've heard, I was very surprised when I was told."
Turning to the old man. Edmund smirked then laughed giddily at the old man before coughing and quieting down.
"I see you haven't keeled over and died yet old man Vincent Blackwood. I was hoping that you would've died by now so I could take over you company."
Vincent stared at Edmund with an angry look. Staring at each other angrily they immediately started laughing together.
"Don't worry about me, this old man still have much more in him than you might think."
In terms of quality and wealth, Valenza and Blackwood would both be considered the best of the best. They always manage to output the highest quality of products in every market. Let's say you were to compare the two, depending on how you compare the two, they could go blow for blow ending up in a tie.
Back in the auditorium, there was a row of different weapons in the middle of the stage.
"There could be a raid, so I want each of you to choose a weapon of your choice to help protect the patrons."
Looking through the selection of weapons, he decided to choose a halberd. Swinging it around, Elias enjoyed how it felt, so he decided to keep it.
Walking down the stage, he sat down on a chair next to a female dwarf and she looked at him.
"Hi sir, my name is Brynja, what's your name?"
"My name is Elias, what brings you here?"
Even under their mask, it was dead obvious that they were smiling at each other.
"I'm here mainly to get paid. They offered me this job and I decided to do it since I was in need of some."
In the distance a bell chime could be heard followed by someone yelling.
"Fourty-five minutes until the auction begins!"
With that being announced, around 12 more employees walked into the auditorium with weapons already in hand. They all immediately started splitting up into odd numbers of groups leaving Brynja and Elias confused. Three people walked up to them both creating the last group.
With the last group being formed, the lights turned on fully lighting up the room. Turning to Brynja, he noticed her bright colored red hair, while she noticed purple tinted hair. Elias also noticed how much more well built she was compared to him while still being much shorter than him with her being 150 cm while he was 180 cm.
While some groups were setting up tables, others were cleaning the stage and floor. Elias' group was made in charge of organizing products for the auction from least to most valued. Opening the cages, they separated the slaves into groups by value too. In total the estimated cost for all of the products in this auction would be around two million gold coins.
The man with the golden eyes was still staring at Elias giving him a weird feeling. He walked up towards Elias stared deeply at him.
"What are you?"
The man with the golden eyes asked before getting dragged back into the line. Elias still confused went back to work helping lift the heavy items.
Back in the main marketplace was a wealthy Elf woman. Behind her was three men following her in order to steal from her.
Walking into an alley way the three men followed her but immediately was cut down from a wind blade casted by the woman.
"Were you really trying to rob me? Lady Thalandria... How idiotic."
Thalandria is a magic user considered to be one of the best because of her 9 star level magic. Nobody whom have faced her up to this point haven't seen anything above a regular level 3 spell from her and even if they have, they wouldn't even survive to tell anyone.
While everyone in Elvenheim thinks she is perfect. Underneath she's a person who would enslave people of her own race for profit. Which isn't anything different from other races.
The last bell chimes signaling every the auction is about to start. On the road to the auction, you could see people worth millions walking towards the building.
Elias standing in front of the door into the auditorium slowly took a deep breath and opened the door for people to come inside of the building.